Westby, WI: Westby Cooperative Creamery introduces Westby Organic brand with four new products; including 4% and 2% small curd Cottage Cheese, in 16-ounce containers; and regular cultured Sour Cream and cultured French Onion Dip, in 12-ounce containers. These new Westby Organic brand products are Grade-A, NON-GMO, and certified-organic by the Midwest Organic Services Association (MOSA) according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) organic standards.

Westby Cooperative Creamery is unique as one of just a few dairy cooperatives across North America to accept two types of milk from its member-owners. As defined by accepted dairy industry terms, these two milk-types are conventional-milk and certified-organic-milk. All milk supplied by the member-owners of Westby Cooperative Creamery is Grade-A and rBST-free.*

Westby Cooperative Creamery is now in its 114th year of operations, beginning in 1903. It was during calendar year 2007 that the cooperative’s Board of Directors agreed to extend membership to certifiedorganic dairy farms. Today, over half of the 225 family dairy farm member-owners of the cooperative are certified-organic; supplying nearly 60% of the 165-million pounds of milk delivered annually by all members. This total annual volume of milk supplied has more than doubled in the past dozen years.

From this milk, the total yearly pounds of award-winning consumer dairy foods produced by the Creamery manufacturing plant has more than tripled; from just under 7-million pounds to over 26-million pounds. Approximately 40% of all products manufactured are certified-organic dairy food products; including Cottage Cheeses, Sour Creams, Dairy Dips, Yogurts, and Hard Cheeses.

Says Ralph Peterscheim, Board President, “We are all proud to be members of Westby Cooperative Creamery. Proud of our past, our current history of growth, and our commitment to the sustainability of family dairy farms. It doesn’t matter what type of milk a member dairy farm produces. What matters is the dedication and responsibilities we all share as member-owners to manage our land, our cows, and the natural resources that surround us, to ensure the future of our farms and this cooperative for the next generation. In many cases, this sustainability is now being managed by the fourth and fifth generations of our member dairy farm families. Our dairy food products are branded with the home-town pride of Westby, Wisconsin, and our surrounding communities; now expanded to this new Westby Organic brand.”

According to Pete Kondrup, General Manager, “Clearly, a lot of planning and diligence goes into managing these two types of milk within our Creamery manufacturing facility. We have separate silos to house each milk-type; and then plan weekly and daily product production for organic product-types first, followed by conventional product-types. Process and control inspections and product quality audits are continuous. 615 North Main Street, Westby, WI 54667

“The demand for organic dairy food products has grown consistently over the past ten years,” says Kondrup. “Since 2007, we’ve been producing certified-organic products for many of our retail Private Label customers; significantly in yogurts and cottage cheeses; along with organic products for Food Service and Ingredient customers.

“A growing number of requests from our loyal retail grocery store customers, for a Westby Organic brand, compelled us to create this new brand of products. These products are Grade-A, NON-GMO, and certifiedKosher; made from certified-organic-milk supplied by some of our local family dairy farm member-owners in Wisconsin and Minnesota. These new organic products have a very clean label,” concludes Kondrup.

U.S. organic food sales grew by 8% in 2016 to $40-billion, which is about 5.5% of all U.S. annual food sales. Organic fruits and vegetables represent the largest organic foods category at 40% of total sales. Other categories include organic meats and poultry, breads and grains, prepared foods, and spices. The organic dairy segment represents about 15% of all organic food sales, with fluid milk as the largest product category; followed by organic yogurts, hard cheeses, cottage cheeses, sour creams, and dairy dips.

These new Westby Organic brand products will be ready for production and shipment to retail grocery stores by September, 2017. Connect with www.westbycreamery.com for your nearest store location.

*No significant difference has been shown between milk from rBST/rBGH treated or non rBST/rBGH treated cows.